The two angels1 came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. He said, "Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.2"
They said, "No; we will spend the night in the square."
But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man3, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them."
Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.4"
But they replied, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge!5 Now we will deal worse with you than with them."
Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck with blindness6 the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.
Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city--bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry7 against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it."
So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting8.
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city." But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand9, the LORD being merciful10 to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed."
And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords; your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there--is it not a little one?--and my life will be saved!"
He said to him, "Very well, I grant you this favor too11, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." Therefore the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur12 and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt13.
Abraham14 went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
[1] Ah, two angels - that makes it pretty clear that the Lord was the other one.
[2] Like Abraham, Lot practices radical hospitality.
[3] To the last man! This emphasizes the city's wickedness - outside of Lot's household, there isn't even one righteous for God to spare the city.
[4] Daughters rather than guests. I had always seen this passage as emphasizing his hospitality to the guests, while still being very disturbing. Only now am I seeing a second pattern - the low status of women. In the story, it is better for Lot to just give away his young daughters to these men than have anything happen to his male guests.
[5] Clearly evil. In addition to the obvious evil characteristics of this statement, they are disrespecting the alien in their midst, a vulnerable person God would want protected. This shows how little they care for the oppressed, a major reason they are being destroyed.
[6] Supernatural and natural means are mixed to save Lot. While the men are struck with blindness, Lot is pulled back with a simple hand, and though God's messengers warn him of destruction, he has to use his own feet to leave.
[7] Who is making the outcry? It appears that the whole city is evil - is it people outside the city whom they are oppressing? Or is the outcry from within?
[8] This is probably a message to those of us who fail to take God's warnings seriously, as well as a set-up for the lack of husbands for Lot's daughters.
[9] Lot continues to get extra chances even when he doesn't listen.
[10] Merciful indeed!
[11] Merciful again, though Lot seems to have little faith.
[12] The Study Bible notes suggest that "asphalt" may be a better translation than "sulpher". This area, just south of the Dead Sea, is a desolate landscape with asphalt deposits and salt pillars. The oasis town of Zoar was the only existing city when this was written.
[13] And the mercy ends. The punishment seems very severe. I can't think of an interpretation beyond the traditional one of warning against looking back to our sinful pasts. Possibly also emphasizing the need for obedience?
[14] The chosen Abraham is brought back into the story, who begged for the righteous of Sodom and Gomorrah but sees it destroyed, lacking even a tiny righteous remnant to save them.
Take-home: Like Abraham, Lot practices radical hospitality, though the lack of respect for women compared to guests is disturbing. The city's occupants are clearly evil, disrespecting both guests and aliens and not having one righteous among them. God gives Lot many chances, but his words have to be listened to, and those who fail to obey risk destruction.
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